27 Odens Korpgalder
or The Lay of Odin's Ravens)
TRANSLATOR'S NOTES
This lay suggests the aftermath following the death of a planet. It has been omitted from many translations as scholars, led by the eminent Sophus Bugge, have tended to ignore it as being quite incomprehensible. It is a lay of great beauty, with a strong mystical appeal, as the reader senses the unsaid, dreamlike, all but unimaginable hiatus between periods of life when the planetary soul is immersed in the quiescence following death. Every kingdom of nature is held in breathless suspension, unmoving, unaware, unliving, awaiting the electrifying urges of a new dawn. Allfather alone is active. In all the Edda there is no more poignant piece of music than this stilling of the pulse of life, leaving each group of beings fixed in its own characteristic state of awareness for the long rest until the gods return.
Odin's two ravens, Hugin and Munin (mind and memory), "daily fly over the battlefield earth" (1) and report back to Allfather by night. Here we again find mention of the gods' anxiety for Hugin, lest he fail to return. There is cogent reason for this. Mind entails choice: beings who possess this faculty, who have attained the function of intelligence and free will, as has humanity on earth, are faced with the options these present. They can, if they so choose, ally themselves totally with the matter-side of nature, the giants, in extreme cases severing their connection with their inner god, so that their characteristic contribution to the cosmic purpose is lost and the soul forgoes its opportunity to become immortal. Or they can gradually blend with the divine source of their existence. The critical choice is not made all at once; it is the cumulative effect of numberless small choices made through progressive stages of life. In the natural course of growth the soul unites each increment of experience with its divine source and so little by little merges with it.
1. Grimnismal, 20.
So it is that at the end of a "day" of life, Hugin returns to Odin, bringing tidings of the manifest world and rejoining the divinity whence it originally flew. Its companion, Munin, is the container of all the record of events since the beginning of time. It is on the report of Munin that is built all attainment, as memory remains eternally as the foundation of future awareness.
It should be noted that both birds refer not merely to human consciousness but to corresponding properties as they manifest differently and in varying degrees throughout nature. A planet, such as Idun personifies, possesses the characteristics contributed by all its components, from elemental consciousnesses through the rudimentary condition of minerals, the greater sensitivity of plants, the budding awareness of animal lives, and self-conscious human souls; it includes also the grander status of perfected men and women as well as kingdoms of life superior to the human. Each awakening consciousness at any stage proceeds through life to gain greater scope and cognition, ever modifying its malleable, growing awareness and comprehension, but it is in the human that we first are able to distinguish the process.
At the end of her life, the planetary soul, Idun, is besieged at the fount of Urd by the anxious gods who seek to learn from her of the past life's growth and to imbibe the mead she can provide. Applying the theosophic keys it seems probable that her father Ivalde represents the previous world, the chain of lunar globes of which our present earth is the successor. Idun, his daughter, is "oldest of Ivalde's younger brood," hence belongs to our earth, and is the offspring of the corresponding globe of the former moon chain. However, this is not the most physical part of it: that was Nanna, the body which is no longer visible to us. Nanna died before our earth was born, before it was made from the materials that had composed her discarded form. She is the planet's lower constituents and so sinks into unconsciousness at death, pricked with the thorn of sleep, the "son of the sleep enchanter." This is the very thorn that brought oblivion to Sleeping Beauty (in another interpretation of the same tale), whose long sleep was ended by the kiss of life. The paralyzing thorn is borne on the icicle waves from the frost giant (22) whose minions characteristically begin to die each midnight, slain by the approaching dawn.
As the poem tells us, the sorrowing Idun had but little to contribute to the feast of the Aesir. However, the final verses of this poem bring us to the birth of a new life: as the hags and giants of the night slink away to their lairs " 'neath the noble ash tree's farthest root" (25), the gods reappear and there bursts into triumphant life a new world with new hope, heralded by the "mighty clarion-blower on the mountains of heaven" (26).
1. Allfather acts, elves discern,
Vaner know, norns point the way.
Trolls nourish, aeons give birth,
Thurses wait, Valkyries yearn.
2. The Aesir suffered grim forebodings,
Seers mistook the fruit-maid's runes. (2)
Urd's mead she guarded but could not defend it
From the insistence of the great host.
2. The planetary equivalent of Bargalmer, the "fruit giant."
3. Hugin soars high to seek her out.
The Aesir are anxious if he delays;
To Longing-for-life (3) dreams become suffering;
Dim dreams surfeit the dead.
3. What the Buddhists call tanha, thirst for life. It characterizes the lower elements which are drawn to matter.
4. Dwarfs grow numb; their powers fall;
Worlds into Ginnung's waning sink; (4)
The Allwise fells beings often,
And again reassembles the fallen.
4. Ginnungagap: the Unfathomable Void.
5. No longer stand fast the earth or the sun;
The stream of destruction stays no more aloft;
Hidden deep in Mimer's well
Lies all wisdom. Know you as yet or what?
6. Dwells in the dells the knowing maiden, (5)
Fallen from Yggdrasil down, from the ash;
The elves named her Idun; she is the oldest
Of Ivalde's younger brood.
5. Idun: the soul of the dead planet is being questioned by the gods and made to yield its increment of consciousness.
7. Unhappy she seemed over this misfortune,
Lying captive under the lofty tree.
She liked it not with the daughter of Night,
Accustomed to having worlds for her dwelling.
8. The victory gods saw the sorrow of Nanna (6);
They sent her in Hel's house a wolf-disguise;
She put it on and changed disposition;
Confused with illusion, altered appearance.
6. Nanna: the lowest elements of the dead planet which, when the soul has left, become transformed into the illusory material to be reused in future forms.
9. Odin selected the watcher of Bafrast (7)
To ask of the dead sun's sorrowing widow
All that she knew of the fate of the world.
Brage and Lopt bore the testimony. (8)
7. Heimdal: the "white sword-Ase."
8. Intuition and aspiring mind. 9. The Shelf of Compassion.
10. Incantations they chanted, they rode on wolves,
The ruler and powers, to the ends of the world.
Odin, listening from Lidskjalf, (9)
Lets them journey far and wide.
11. Wise Heimdal asked if the mead-provider
Knew of the origin, age, and the end
Of the races of gods and her companions,
Of heaven, the void, and the earth.
12. Naught would she say, not a word would she utter
In response to the askers, nor discourse with them;
Her tears fell fast from her brain's shields;
Her power was numbed, exhausted, and dead.
13. Filled with sorrow Jorun appeared (10)
Before the gods, unable to speak;
The more they asked, the less she said;
All their words flowed in vain.
10. The earth-to-be, Idun reborn.
14. Foremost at the questing was Heimdal, the watcher
Of the horn of the father of hosts;
He brought with him Loki, the one born of Nal,
While Brage, the bard, stood guard.
15. The warriors of Odin attained to the Winehall,
Brought to the place by the sons of the past;
There entered Ygg's heroes to salute the Aesir,
And share in the feasting on mead.
16. They wished Hangatyr (11) health and contentment,
With well-being ever to brew his ale;
The drinkers were blissful to joy at the tankard,
Eager to feast with the Ever-young.
11. The hanged god: Odin, the Great Sacrifice. Cf. Havamal, 137-42.
17. Each benched by Odin, the rulers together
Eat and are sated with Sarimner; (12)
With the ladle of Nikar (13) Skogul at the tables
Serves mead in the horns of memory.
12. One of the boars that feed the One-harriers: Andrinmer, air; Eldrimner, fire; Sarimner, water; the elements of earth experience.
13. The Shaker: Odin as misfortune. Skogul is a Valkyrie who serves the gods and the One-harriers who have united with their inner god.
18. At the feast much was asked by the gods of Heimdal,
By the goddesses of Loki.
All day long until darkness fell
They sought the seeress' wisdom and prophecy.
19. Ill they thought was resolved
This matter, and little commendable.
Cunning was needed to elicit
An answer from the sly witch.
20. Darkening, Odin speaks. All listen:
"Night shall be used for renewal of counsel;
Each one who can shall by the morrow
Find some solution for the Aesir's weal."
21. At the mountains' rim round the wintry earth
The offspring of Fenris, exhausted, fell.
The gods left the feast, saluting Ropt (14)
And Frigg, at the departure of the steed of night.
14. The maligned: Odin as the hierophant.
22. Soon from the cast, out of icicle-waves,
Comes the thorn of sleep to the frozen giant,
Whose minions are slain in beautiful Midgard
Every night at the midnight hour.
23. Then wanes the power. Hands grow numb.
A swoon assails the white sword-Ase; (15)
Unconsciousness reigns on the midnight breath;
Thought fails in tired beings.
15. Heimdal, watcher of the gods on the rainbow bridge, who blows the horn at Ragnarok.
24. But the son of the Dawn spurs on his charger,
Caparisoned gaily in precious gems.
Over Manhome flows radiance from the steed's mane;
He draws in the chariot Dvalin's toy. (16)
16. Dvalin's toy is the solar disk.
25. At the nourishing earth's northern horse-door,
Neath the noble ash-tree's farthest root,
Went to their lairs hags and giants,
Spooks, and dwarfs, and the black elves.
26. Up rose the gods. Forth shone the sun.
Northward to Niflheim night drew away;
Heimdal once more sprang up upon Bafrast,
Mighty clarion-blower on the mountains of heaven.
THE READER WHO HAS persisted thus far will have noticed a lack of the illustrations of gods and giants which usually adorn books on mythology: Norse myths generally sport a one-eyed Odin in a slouch hat and a brawny Thor wielding a primitive stone hammer. All embellishments of that kind have been omitted because such images have done more to discredit the myths than almost anything else. Instead a deliberate effort has been made to de-personify the natural powers and substances of the universe, in an attempt to reverse the accustomed tendency to see mythic deities in human form and endow matter with qualities it does not possess. The first is an indignity to which no planetary or stellar power should be subjected; the second attaches to inert substance properties out of keeping with its nature.
Having roamed through a small part of the Saemundar Edda, with brief excursions into other sources, we should by now have a reasonable familiarity with the method used by the bards to record the science of the gods. Through the peculiar magic of myths we find ourselves learning of the origin, age, and the end of things, for we are, each one of us, the questing Odin. The problems that confront us, when reduced to their most basic form, are the very same demands made by the spirit of existence as it hangs, suspended from higher worlds, in the Tree of Life: Odin below consecrated to Odin above in the tree, while he searches the depths for runes of wisdom, raising them with song — sound, motion, activity.
In the Voluspa and Grimnismal we are given an overview of cosmogony, a panorama of living worlds returning to action after a cosmic rest; we see the gods draw to their Judgment seats, assemble to take council and determine the disposition of heavenly beings in the shelves and mansions of the Tree of Life. We learn as well of our human origins and parentage: that we are descended from the creative cosmic powers, composed of the universal elements which endow us with the properties that belong to our species.
Others of the lays have reference more particularly to our own globe and to the humanities that have succeeded one another thereon. We find a succession of giants and giantesses, races of mankind which display different characteristics and encounter fresh experiences to nourish the enduring consciousness. The human spirit traverses the shelves and mansions of our universal Tree of Life in search of experience, just as we play host to myriads of atomic worlds on the various levels of our own nature, while our elf, our ego, either acts on the behest of its divine hamingja or permits itself to be swayed by the importunities of the dwarf nature in us. At the same time our bodily organisms, along with the minerals and other kingdoms, help constitute the globes of our universe, just as the atomic lives in us provide the bodies that belong to us in the world we are currently inhabiting.
The myths are eminently reasonable. There are no extraordinary demands on credulity: the systems interlock, the twigs on their branches of the Tree of Life are themselves trees of life which ramify within the greater system. All the while the gods, the beneficent powers, are in command of their own domains; not interfering in human concerns, nor subject to human cajolery and whims, they are intelligent worlds, austerely unapproachable by us yet always there, a realistic prospect of our own future. For we, like toddlers in a world of grownups, stand knee-high to their majesty and see only the least, most basic of their attributes.
The worlds are shown to live and die, and again live, and once again depart. After each planetary life the gods seek to learn from the "fruitful spirit" what has been gained on its sphere of duty. Within the human realm, we too enter our globe of action, gain some mead to regale the inner god, and exit into other worlds: worlds having different composition, different substantiality, other ranges of experience for the evolving consciousness to partake of. The squirrel of awareness has free access to all the many levels of its Tree of Life, and what pertains to one world does not have identic application in some other, though we have affinities with all. We live and learn in them, while each part of our nature has its own home base.
Ever since the mind and will of early humanity were quickened to think and choose, and since their — our — first steps as human beings were guided by the "beneficent powers" anthropomorphized as Rig, our paths have ranged through many a swamp and quicksand where the inner light has been dimmed, and also over peaks of grand inspiration. The human mind being part and parcel of the mind of an intelligent universe cannot be divorced from, or contain something that is lacking in, the whole of which it forms a part but must constitute an integral portion of it. We have the assurance of the myths that when our weary journey through the self-discovering vales of matter will be completed, we shall regain our divinity and rightfully assume a conscious and responsible role in the governance of the world. For within us is a potent and undeniable link with the bright intelligences that govern planetary and solar systems; they are the hierarchs whose essence pervades their domain just as a human being permeates with consciousness all the teeming lives within its soul and body. And lest we lose touch with the source of our inspiration, the thought world we inhabit is impregnated with the signals whereby we may find truth.
Never in all our ventures has the light of inspiration been wholly lacking; always there have existed the mythic ideals, so that those who seek truth earnestly can find response in every age. For this the world's legends and allegories endure. When inward necessity and altruistic love impel, they can become more fully known; at other times they remain concealed within their disguises of epic and fairy tale. When studied, they reaffirm eternal values and virtues, and they teach us how to live: for, as they clearly show, our task as a human kingdom is to transmute the grosser substance of our giant world into the more enduring treasures of consciousness — the sustenance that feeds the gods — in us and in the systems of worlds.
Withal myths teach us to know truth and to value it: not data such as may be stored in a computer memory, but the growing sphere of truth that affords us ever freer vision and opens the inner worlds of a living kosmos to our comprehension. This assurance of our divine origins and universal destiny gives us a basis for discrimination that is always valid: no mere codified set of virtues (which, as everyone knows, can become vices when misapplied), but a solid foundation of character, an inner direction finder that points to the true in any situation.
The interpretations offered here are far from exhaustive, presenting merely an outline of a few of the main themes of theosophic philosophy recognized in some of the lays and stories of the Edda. Not every symbol has been noted, nor every kenning explained; many will strike the reader without having to be pointed out. Other passages are too obscure to be readily understood and, rather than confuse or, possibly, mislead the reader, they are left to the intuitive to discern for themselves. It is believed that with the general keys to symbolism that are proposed, a thoughtful and perceptive mind may find successive layers of understanding of not only the Norse but also other world myths. What has been scrutinized is also incomplete, being only a small proportion of the material available in the Edda. If this fragment of runic wisdom can encourage others to undertake a more complete study of the ancient records, it will have served a purpose. There is a real need in our present world to restore spiritual reverence and reason to human endeavor, before we immerse ourselves further in a universe without meaning. The ancient gods are not dead; far from it. They go about their tasks of keeping worlds in continuing, harmonious functioning, they ensure the balance of nature's elements and maintain on all levels the delicate efficiency that so astounds the naturalist in our physical environment. The maverick of nature is man. The kingdoms that trail behind us are largely dependent on us and suffer unduly from our mistakes, while those that precede us on the ladder of existence, though not bound by our foolishness, are nevertheless deprived of our cooperation when we act with less than the best of our humanness.
It is needful that we acquire awareness of the next step in our Od, the human soul, must successfully gain his heavenly bride at the end of his travail through windcold vales of matter, aided by the talents and qualities bestowed on him by his mother, the past. Only when prepared and willing can we fulfill our human destiny and, as Svipdag united with Menglad, our hamingja, share in the tasks of the years and the ages.
Each language really has an alphabet all its own; even though the same written symbols may be used, the sounds they represent are subtly different in each spoken tongue. Particularly is this true of the vowels, whereof English has five, Swedish nine, and Old Icelandic seventeen. Many of the names of the Edda's characters have several spellings, all equally valid, some Icelandic, others Old Norse, others Swedish, Danish, or Norwegian. We have used Swedish or Icelandic spelling, substituting for the extra Icelandic letters the closest English equivalents. Thus þ is commonly th as in Thor, while ð is given as d. The following pronunciation guide is a compromise giving merely an indication of the actual sounds. The vowels:
Long / Short Equivalent
a as in father / sat
e as in say / set
i as in fatigue / sit
o as in move / soot
u as u minus the "ee" sound / hut
y as in French tu / Gluck
a as in corps / sot
a as in care / set
o as in French deux / neuf
Consonants are pronounced approximately as in English. The g is hard before hard vowels (a, o, u, a), but soft, like y, before the other (soft) vowels; r is trilled as in Scottish speech or like the French.
Aesir (ay-seer) [gods] Active deities. See Ase
Ager (ay-gear) [a titan or giant] Space: brewer of mead for the gods
Agnar (ang-nar) Name of two early humanities; one was taught by Grimner (Odin)
Alf (alv) [channel] Elf, soul
Allvis (al-veece) [all all + vis wise] A dwarf: worldly wise wooer of Thor's daughter
Andrimner [and air + rimner computation, calendar] One of the boars that feed the One-harriers
Ase (aw-seh) [as topmost roofbeam of a house] An active god. See also Aesir (pl.), Asynja (f.), Asynjor (f. pl.)
Asgard (aws-gawrd) [as god + gard court] Home of the Aesir
Askungen (ask-ung-en) [ask ash + unge child] Ash child, Cinderella
Asmegir (aws-may-gir) [godmaker] Potential god: the human soul
Asynja (aw-sin-ya) [goddess, f. of Ase] Active deity
Asynjor (aw-sin-yore) [pl. of Asynja, f. of Aesir] Goddesses
Audhumla (a-ood-hum-la) [mythic cow] Symbol of fertility
Balder (bahl-der) An Ase: the sun-god
Bargalmer, Bergelmir (bare-yell-meer) [a titan] Fruitage of a universal lifetime
Barre (bar-reh) [barr pine needle] The sacred grove of peace. Snorri speaks of the ash as having barr, having never seen a tree. There were none in Iceland.
Bele's bane (bay-leh) The sword of Frey
Bifrost, Bafrast, Bilrast (bee-frost, bayv-rast, beel-rast) The rainbow bridge between men and gods
Bilskirner (beel-sheer-ner) [flashing, shining] Valhalla's shelf
Bleknabb (blayk-neb) [pale beak] Eagle, the giant Rasvalg
Bodvild (beud-vild) Daughter of King Nidud
Brage, Bragi (brah-geh) An Ase: poetic inspiration, wisdom
Brimer (bree-mer) [ocean surf] An aspect of Ager. See Ymer
Brisingamen (bree-sing-a-mayn)[brising fire + men jewel] Freya's gem, human intelligence
Brock A dwarf: the mineral kingdom
Budlung (bood-lung) A king (poetic)
Bur (boo-r) [birth?] Space, first emanation of Burl
Buri (boo-ree) Frozen, unmanifest, abstract Space. Traditionally King Buri or Bore personifies winter
Byleist (bee-layst) [wildfire] The destructive side of Loki, mind
Draupnir (drawp-neer) [dripper] Odin's magic ring: proliferating cycles
Dvalin (dvah-leen) [comatose] The human, unawakened soul; Dvalin's toy, the solar disk
Dwarfs Souls less than human in evolutionary status
Edda [great-grandmother] Matrix of human wisdom
Egil (ay-gil) An early humanity, the age of innocence
Eldrimner [eld fire + rimner computation, calendar] One of the boars that feed the One-harriers
Elf [channel] The human soul between spirit and dwarf in man
Eli-vigor (ay-lee-vaw-goor) [icicle-waves] Cold streams of matter
Elohim (ello-heem) [gods, Hebrew pl.] Deity as an aggregate of many infinite forces
Fenja (fen-vah) [fen water] One of the giantesses who turn the magic mill Grotte
Fenris, Fenrer Loki's son, werewolf which will devour the sun
Fimbultyr (fim-bul-teer) [fimbul mighty, great + tyr god] The highest divinity, the god of secret wisdom
Fjolsvinn (fyeul-svinn) [fjol very + svinn wise] Odin as instructor and initiator
Flyting [Eng. dial.] Dispute in verse, personal abuse
Fohat [Tib.] Electromagnetic radiation
Forsete (for-set-eh) An Ase: justice, karma
Freke (fray-keh) [gluttony] One of Odin's wolfhounds
Frey (fray) An Ase: planetary spirit of earth; valor
Freya (fray-a) An Asynja: planetary spirit of Venus, protectress of humanity
Frigga [AS frigu love] An Asynja: Odin's consort
Frode (froo-deh) [frodr wise] A legendary king
Frodefrid (froo-deh-freed) [frodr wise + frid peace] Age of peace and wisdom: the golden age
Frost Giant Age of non-life between active lives of a cosmos
Gagnrad (gang-n-rawd) [gagn gainful + rad counsel] Odin in Vaftrudnismal
Galder (gahl-der) Incantation
Ganglare (gong-lay-re) [gang wandering + lare learner] King Gylfe seeking wisdom
Garm The hound that guards the gate of Hel, queen of death
Geirrod (gay-reud) [geir spear + rod red] An early humanity
Gerd (yayrd) A giantess: spouse of Frey
Gere (yay-reh) [greed] One of Odin's wolfhounds
Giant, Giantess Matter vivified by divinity
Gimle (gim-leh) [heavenly abode] A superior shelf of existence
Ginnungagap (yinn-ung-a-gahp) [ginn the void + unge offspring + gap chasm] The mystery of Nonbeing
Gladsheim (glahds-haym) [gladhome] Location of Valhalla
Grimner [disguised] Odin as teacher of the younger Agnar
Groa (groo-a) [growth] A sibyl: the evolutionary past leading up to the present
Grotte (grott-eh) [growth] Magic mill of change, creation, destruction: evolution
Gudasaga (goo-dah-sah-ga) [gud god + saga spell] A divine tale
[[[[[[[[[[[page 278 missing]]]]]]]]]]]]]
the wife of Brage, poetic inspiration
Ifing (ee-ving) [ef or if doubt] River that separates men from gods
Iormungandr (yer-mung-andr) [jormun immense + andr breath] An offspring of Loki: the Midgard serpent. (May be the equator, the plane of the ecliptic, or the Milky Way)
Ivalde (ee-vahl-deh) A giant: the previous imbodiment of earth
Jamsaxa (yern-sax-ah) [jarn iron + sax a short sword] An age: mother of Thor's son Magne. On earth the Iron Age, in space one of Heimdal's nine mothers
Kenning A descriptive epithet used in lieu of a name
Kvasir (kvah-seer) A hostage given to the Aesir by the Varier, and whose blood is epic poetry
Li and Laeti (law, lay-tee) Genetic bloodline and distinctive character or appearance
Lidskjalf (leed-shelv) [hlid aligning with, or lid suffering + skjalf shelf] The plane of aid or compassion
Lif and Lifthrasir (leev, leev-trah-seer) [life and survival] Immortal principles
Lin (leen) [lin flax] Frigga, Odin's consort
Loddfafner (lodd-fawv-ner) A dwarf: a learning human soul
Lodur (loo-dur) One of the creative trinity; the fiery principle
Lofar (loo-vahr) [lof hand or praise] Highest member of animal kingdom
Logi (loo-gee) [log flame] Wildfire, the uninspired mind
Lokabrenna [brenna burning] A name for Sirius
Lokasenna [senna banter] Loki's Flyting
Loki [lokka entice, logi light] An Ase of giant stock: the enlightener, dual mind
Lopt [lofty] Aspiring mind
Lorride (lor-ree-deh) Thor as electric power on earth
Magne (mang-neh) [godly power: gravitation?] One of Thor's sons in cosmic space
Mead Drink of the gods: experience of life.
Menglad [men jewel + glad happy] Freya whose jewel is humanity
Menja (men-yah) [men jewel] One of the two giantesses who turn the mill Grotte
Midgard (mid-gawrd) [mid middle + gard court] Our physical planet
Mimameid (mee-mah-mayd) [mima of Mimer + meid tree] The tree of Mimer, owner of the spring of experience
Mimer (mee-mer) [the nine-layered sky] A giant: owner of the well of wisdom from which Odin drinks daily: matter
Mjolnir (myeul-neer) [miller] Thor's hammer of creation and destruction
Mjotudr (myeut-oodr) [mjot measure + udr exhausting] The Tree of Life in its dying phase
Mjotvidr (myeut-veedr) [mjot measure + vid increasing] The Tree of Life in its growing phase
Mode (moo-deh) [godly wrath: radiation?] One of Thor's son in cosmic space
Mundilfore (mun-dill-feu-reh) [akin to mondull handle + fore to fare, move] A giant, father of sun and moon: the "lever" or "axis" that turns the "wheels" in space
Munin (moo-nin) [mind, love, memory] One of Odin's two ravens
Muspellsheim (muss-pells-haym) [muspell fire + heim home] A cosmic principle. See Niflheim
Mysing (mee-sing) A sea-king who conquered Frode
Nagelfar (nahg-el-fahr) [nagel nail + far travel] The ship of death, built of dead men's nails
Nanna Soul of the moon, who died of sorrow when her husband Balder was killed. Predecessor of Idun
Nidhogg (need-heugg) [nid beneath + hogg biter] Serpent undermining Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life
Nidud (nee-dud) [nid beneath, evil] A legendary king: the most material age of earth.
Niflheim (nee-vel-haym) [nifl cloud, nebula + heim home] A cosmic principle. See Muspellsheim
Niflhel (nee-vel-hayl) [nifl cloud, nebula + hel death] Extinction of matter
Niflungar (nee-vel-ung-ahr) [nifl mist + ungar children] An early human race that was still formless, nebulous
Nikar (nee-kahr) [ladler] Odin as bringer of misfortune
Njord (nyeurd) A Vanagod: the regent of Saturn, father of Frey and Freya
Norns [norn weird, doom] Spinners of destiny for gods, worlds, and men
Od, Odr (ood, ood-r) [odr wit, intelligence] The higher human soul, spiritually inspired
Od's maid (Freya) The hamingja or higher self of man
Odin [odr intelligence, wisdom] Allfather: the divine principle in all levels of universal life. Consciousness
Odraerir (ood-reur-er) [od wisdom + raerir rearer] Inspirer of divine wisdom
Ofner (ohv-ner) [opener] Odin at the beginning of a cycle
Okolner (oo-kol-ner) [unfreezing] The "waters" of space
One-harrier Odin's warrior; one who has conquered himself
Orgalmer (eur-yell-mer) [or original] First vibration: the big bang. See Ymer
Ragnarok (rang-na-reuk) [ragna rulers + rok ground] When the ruling deities withdraw to their ground; end of a world's lifetime
Ratatosk (rah-tah-tosk) [rate travel + tosk tusk] Squirrel in the Tree of Life: consciousness
Rate (rah-teh) [a drill] Bored through matter for Odin
Rig (reeg) [descent, involvement] Divine awakening of human mind
Rimgrimner [rim rime + grimner mask] A thurse, giant: cold, utter matter
Rind (rhymes with sinned) Earth in winter or in sleep
Rodung (reud-ung) [rod red + ung child] Father of the early races Agnar and Geirrod in Grimnismal
Ropt, Roptatyr (rop-tah-teer) [ropt maligned + tyr god] Odin as bringer of trials to the soul; the initiator, hierophant
Roskva (reuss-kvah) [vigor] Daughter of Egil and servant of Thor
Runes Wisdom gained by living
Rungner (rung-ner) [loud roar] A giant
Rymer (ree-mer) A giant: end of a life cycle. See Hymer
Saga Spoken or recited instruction in the guise of a story
Sarimner (say-rim-ner) [sar sea + rimner computation, calendar] One of the boars that feed the One-harriers
Sejd (sayd) Prophecy
Sif (seev) [sif affinity, the sanctity of marriage] An Asynja: Thor's wife. Her golden hair is the harvest
Sigyn (seeg-in) Loki's wife
Sindre (sin-dreh) [dross] A dwarf: the vegetable kingdom
Sinmara (sin-mah-ra) Hag who guards the caldron of matter, experience in the underworld
Skade (skah-deh) Sister-wife of Njord, daughter of the giant Tjasse
Skald Bard
Skaldemjod (skal-deh-myeud) [skald poet + mjod mead] Inspiration
Skidbladnir (sheed-blahd-neer) [skid slat + blad leaf] Ship created by dwarfs for Frey. The planet earth
Skirner (sheer-ner) [radiance] Ray of the god Frey, an emissary to the giant world
Sleipnir (slayp-neer) [slider] Odin's eight-legged steed
Surt [fire] Destroyer of worlds; kenning also for Sinmara's drink
Suttung A giant, keeper of the divine mead of wisdom and poetry
Svadilfare (svah-dil-fahreh) [svad slippery + fare travel] A mythical steed, father of Odin's eightlegged Sleipnir
Svafner (svahv-ner) [closer] Odin at the end of a cycle
Svipdag (sveep-dahg) [svip flash + dag day] The successful initiant
Svitjod (sveet-yod) [the cold, the great] Sweden Tables Stars and planets whereat the Aesir feast
Thor [thorr, thonor, thur thunder, consecrator, guileless power] An Ase: god of power, life force, electricity, and of the planet Jupiter. Also called Trudgalmer, Vior, Lorride in different applications
Thurse [dull, stupid] Uninspired matter giant
Ting, Thing [costly articles, inventory] Parliament
Tjalfe (chal-veh) [speed] Son of Egil and servant of Thor
Tjasse (chass-eh) A giant: an earlier life period
Tjodvitner (chod-veet-ner) [tjod tether + vitner witness] Fenris; wolf that fishes for the souls of men
Tomte (tom-teh) [tom empty] Nature sprite, helpful
Troll Nature sprite, mischievous
Trudgalmer (trood-yell-mer) Cosmic Thor
Trym (trim) [noise, battle] A giant: our physical planet Earth
Tund [tinder] A river: time
Tyr (teer) [Ase, god] A divine power, also the regent of Mars. Tyr sacrificed his hand to help bind Fenris
Ull An Ase: the god of a highly spiritual, unmanifest world
Vac or Vach (vahch) [Skt. voice, speech] Hindu first sound. See also Audhumla
Vaftrudnir (vahv-trood-ner) [vaf wrap, weave + thrudr doughty] The weaver of strong webs (of illusion)
Vagtam (vayg-tahm) [vag way + tam wont] Pilgrim
Vala, volva (vah-la, veul-va) [sibyl, prophetess] Indelible record of cosmic life
Vale (vah-leh) A son of Odin
Valhalla [val choice or slain + ball hall] Odin's hall where One-harriers celebrate
Valkyries [val choice or slain + kyrja chooser] Odin's agents
Van, Vanagod, Vanagiant (vahn-a-) Gods superior to the Aesir; unmanifest deities and corresponding giants
Ve, Vi (vay, vee) [awe] Cosmic prototype of Honer
Vidar (vee-dahr) A son of Odin, successor of Balder
Vidofner (veed-awv-ner) [wide opener] Cock in the crown of the Tree of Life
Vigridsslatten (vee-grids-slett-en) [viga consecrate + slatt plain] The battlefield of life
Vile (vee-leh) [will] Cosmic prototype of Lodur
Vingner, Vingthor [winged Thor] Epithets for Thor
Vior (vee-or) Thor as vital force in beings
Volsungar (veul-s-ungar) [volsi phallus + ungr children] Early bisexual humanity
Volund (veu-lund) Name of a mythic Smith and skillful artisan. The soul of the fourth humanity
Voluspa (veu-luss-paw) [vala sibyl + spa to prophesy] Principal lay of the elder Edda
Yggdrasil (ig-dra-seel) [Odin's steed, Odin's gallows] The Tree of Life
Ymer (ee-mer) [frost giant] Orgalmer
SOURCES OF THE LAYS:
Codex Regius af den aeldre Edda: Handskriftet No. 2365 4to gl. kgl. Samling printed by S. L. Mollers Bogtrykkeri, Copenhagen 1891.
Codex Wormianus.
Edda, Saemundar hinns Froda: Edda Rhythmica seu Antiqvior, vulgo Saemundina dicta, Havniae 1787, from a fourteenth century parchment
Swedish versions of Godecke and Sander are taken from the above and also from
Hauksbok
Sorla Thattr, "little thread," which is part of the Younger Edda.
The Younger Edda by Snorri Sturlusson
GENERAL WORKS:
Anderson, R. B., Norse Mythology, Scott Foresman & Co., Chicago, 1907.
Asimov, Isaac, The Universe, From Flat Earth to Quasar, Walker and Company, New York, 1966.
Barker, A. T., ed., The Mahatma Letters to A. P Sinnett, facsimile reprint of 2nd ed., Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1975.
Bhattacharjee, Siva Sadhan, The Hindu Theory of Cosmology, Bani Prakashani, Calcutta, 1978.
-------, Unified Theory of Philosophy, Rama Art Press, Calcutta, 1981.
Blavatsky, H. P., Isis Unveiled (1877), Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, California 1976.
-------, The Secret Doctrine (1888), facsimile reprint, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1977.
-------, The Voice of the Silence (1889), Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1976.
Cleasby, R., and G. Vigfusson, Icelandic Dictionary, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1869.
Cruse, Amy, The Book of Myths, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1925.
Godecke, P. Aug., Edda, P. A. Norstedt, Stockholm, 1881.
Gordon, E. V., and A. R. Taylor, An Introduction to Old Norse, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1957.
Hapgood, Charles H., The Path of the Pole, Chilton Book Co., Philadelphia, 1970.
Harrison, Edward R., Cosmology, The Science of the Universe, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981.
Judge, W Q., Bhagavad-Gita, Recension combined with Essays on the Gita, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1969.
King, Ivan R., The Universe Unfolding, W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco, 1976.
Krupp, E. C., Echoes of the Ancient Skies, Harper & Row, New York, 1983.
--------, ed., In Search of Ancient Astronomies, Doubleday & Co., New York, 1977.
Kurten, Bjorn, Not From the Apes, Random House, New York, 1972.
Mutwa, Vusamazulu C., Indaba, My Children, Blue Crane Book Co., Johannesburg, 1965.
Nilson, Peter, Himlavalvets sallsamheter, Raben & Sjogren, Stockholm, 1977.
--------, Frammande varldar, Raben & Sjogren, Stockholm, 1980.
Purucker, G. de, Fountain-Source of Occultism, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, California, 1974.
--------, Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy, 2nd & rev. ed., Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1979.
--------, Man in Evolution, 2nd & rev. ed., Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1977.
--------, The Esoteric Tradition, Theosophical University Press, Pasadenaa, 1935.
Rydberg, Viktor, Undersokningar i Germansk Mitologi (Teutonic Mythology), Albert Bonnier, Gothenburg, 1886, 1889.
Sander, Fredrik, Edda, P. A. Norstedt, Stockholm, 1893.
Santillana, G. de, and H. von Dechend, Hamlet's Mill, Gambit, Inc. Boston, 1969.
Sullivan, Walter, Continents in Motion, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1974.
Turville-Petre, E. O. G., Myth and Religion of the North, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1964.
Vigfusson, Gudbrand, and F. York Powell, Corpus Poeticum Boreale, The Poetry of the Old Northern Tongue, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1883.
Zeilik, Michael, Astronomy: The Evolving Universe, Harper & Row, New York, 1979.